STATEWIDE-Teen driving deaths are down in the state of Indiana.
That news comes during what is National Teen Driver Safety Week this week. The latest results from State Farm show that the number of Indiana teens involved in fatal car crashes has gone down 30% between 2005 and 2015. 166 teens were involved in fatal car crashes in 2005 compared to 117 in 2015.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that there were 31 drivers age 15 to 19 killed in 2016 in Indiana signifying that the decrease continues. In those incidents, 42 other people involved in those accidents were killed.
In 2005, there were 7,500 teens involved in fatal car crashes nationwide. That number decreased to 4,300 in 2015. Last year, that number was just over 3,500 in 2016.
Experts in the industry are attributing the decrease to strong graduated driver licensing programs.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — State and federal officials have announced the delivery of more than 1,750 new portable breath tests for 150 local law enforcement agencies across Indiana.
The devices used to measured blood-alcohol content in motorists were purchased with just over $750,000 in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration impaired-driving funds administered by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.
The new devices include passive sniffers that can sense alcohol in the air around a person or an open container.
Over the coming year, an additional $310,000 is budgeted to purchase 725 devices for Indiana State Police posts.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana woman has been sentenced to 36 years in prison for neglect in the death of a 9-year-old blind boy with cerebral palsy who weighed just 15 pounds.
The (Terre Haute) Tribune-Star reports that a Vigo County judge ordered the sentence Thursday for 54-year-old Robin Kraemer. Jurors convicted her last month of several charges in the February death of Cameron Hoopingarner.
Authorities say Cameron was malnourished, although because of his conditions his target weight was only 22 to 26 pounds.
Kraemer was the boy’s guardian through an agreement with his birth mother. She testified at trial that she felt overwhelmed caring for him and admitted smoking methamphetamine days before he died. Kraemer said she gave Cameron daily massages, baths and multiple feedings.